To keep ahead of the competition & solve your customers problems, you’ve got to innovate & continually re-invent yourself like Netflix…
Back in the day independent video shops had rows & rows of VHS films with the spine facing out like a library. They’d usually be in alphabetical order. But you had to search hard for what you wanted.
You’d call in for the latest film. Something like Braveheart. But they’d only ever have 1 copy & it’d be always out. To ensure you got to watch it, you’d have to diarise their next free date.
Blockbuster then re-invented the industry. Buying a dozen or more copies of the latest films. No matter how late on a Friday night you called, they always have a copy.
Radically (at the time) they also displayed the films full frontal, so you no longer had to squint or get down on your knees to search through all the spines. It was SOOO much easier.
These 2 innovations put most of the independent video shops out of business. They couldn’t afford to buy a dozen copies of the latest blockbuster & they didn’t have the space for full frontal displays.
But. If you rest on your laurel’s things can quickly change…
Along came Netflix & spun renting films on its head. No longer did you have to go out & visit a shop to rent a film for 1 night. Netflix posted them to you & let you keep them for a week.
Netflix started to eat into Blockbusters market share. Betting that DVD would soon overtake VHS. They moved to a subscription model, which seriously wounded Blockbuster.
For a small monthly fee Netflix would rent you unlimited DVD’s one at a time & for a slight uplift they’d even let you have 2. Providing fantastic value for money & convenience.
It took years before Blockbuster even attempted postal subscriptions. But they were way too late.
10 years on. Netflix amazed the market with another 180 & launched a subscription streaming service. Which has radically changed the way people consume films & TV forever.
16 years ago, we had a shop were people came to buy their printer cartridges. At the time this was radical. As the only place you could buy them was mail order & they took days to arrive.
A few years later we innovated & improved our service, offering free local same day delivery & credit accounts for local businesses & schools.
Fast forward to today & we’ve done a Netflix. Providing unlimited streaming of home & business printer solutions in monthly subscriptions. Including the printer, unlimited cartridges & support.
As you can see. It’s important that you’re continuously looking at new innovations for the product & the service you provide.
…we don’t want to end up like Blockbuster. Do you?
